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Q&A

Iron-rich rogue planet that is 12x Earth's mass collides with the Sun; now what?

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So this planet enters our solar system from the 'south' pole at 30 kilometers per second. A bit faster than the first Interstellar asteroid ever discovered.

Of course, it plunges into the Sun's photosphere at a final speed much much higher than this.

Some things to consider...

Will the Sun get brighter due to the kinetic energy of the collision? Or will the Sun dim as the planet is vaporised and its composition added to the solar atmosphere? Would the iron content affect the Sun's magnetic field? Would the Sun throw out any dangerous (to Earth) solar flares? Would the Sun burn detectably hotter once the planet is added to its solar mass? Or would the Sun now burn dimmer, due to the iron and heavier-than-iron elements?

On Earth, will people notice any color and/or intensity change to the normal sun-light? (Short-term and long-term)

Of course, people will be screaming 'Nibiru' and running for the hills. Overall, is this event catastrophic, or merely something to tell our grandchildren about?

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This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/110873. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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